After what feels like hours, but it definitely wasn't, because I couldn't run that long before I was pregnant, so I can't now, we reach a huge roller door that screams air hanger. Letting go of Darcy, I press my hand over the pad on the wall but all it does is buzz.
"You try," I order Darcy, her expression has yet to change from abject fear, so I grab her wrist and press the palm of her hand against it too. Nothing. Shit a duck up its arse! "Okay, okay. Plan B. There wasn't a plan A, but who the fuck is counting. Dar, where else can we get out?" The pink woman blinks up at me wordlessly. Her huge eyes are glassy. She’s still shaking. I couldn't have befriended a badarse though, could I? Oh, no. The sound of boots pounding towards us makes me freeze. Shit, shit, shit. Turning in a circle, I look for a door. There! Across from us is a tiny door, like waist height door. I dash towards it, running back to grab Darcy, then slamming my shoulder into the door. We both fly through the air and land in a heap. At the last second, I kick my foot out and slam the door closed, just as I spot Selkie jog by. Fuck.
"My Queen?" Darcy looks up at me, her wheezing breath tickling my ear.
"Yes, Darcy?" I push myself off her, grunting when my ribs protest.
"That was close." She breathes. Yeah, no shit.
"Do you know where..." I don't get to finish my question, because the door is pushed open, it's bigger than the one we opened. It catches Darcy's foot and she slides across the floor as Gordon strolls into the room.
"I'm disappointed, sister. Surely you can do better than that?" He asks, an eyebrow raised and a smile playing on his lips.
Son of a nutcracker!
"Keeping you on your toes, Gordy," I say while pulling Darcy up off the floor.
"Come." He orders. As we step out, I notice the hall is packed with Selkie Elite.
"All this, for lil ole me? Talk about an overreaction." I grumble as we follow Gordon back to my pretty prison.
As he lifts his hand up to close the door, Gordon pauses looking down at me.
"Why do you fight against me, sister? You should be thrilled at the prospect of being our Queen." He frowns at me like he simply can't understand my problem.
"Jesus. I was kidnapped, I'm being held prisoner. Something is happening to one of my consorts, Gordon, please, let me go." I beg even though I know it won't do any good. There are two ways I get out of here. One, they kill me. Or two, well, I'm working on that. It's hard to think with this pressure in my chest knowing something is happening to Leyland because I'm not there. It’s killing me.
"I'm well aware," Gordon says before the door slips shut in my face.
"What do you mean?" I bang my fists against the door and scream at the top of my lungs as Darcy flops face-first onto the rug behind me. "Shit!" I spin and rush to her. "Darcy? Honey, please wake-up!" I shake her then turn her onto her back. "Tell me what's wrong, Dar?" She blinks, a second set of eyelids flick across her eyes. Okay, that's freaky. I've never seen her do that before. "Darcy?" I whisper while shaking her shoulder. All she does is stare up at the ceiling. Oh, fuck.
Chapter Nine
EVERLY
Day 6 in Atlantis
I sit next to Darcy and wait. I pounded on the door for hours last night. No one came. The sun set. Still, I sat next to her. As the sun rises once more, Darcy blinks again, the same sideways blink as before. Well, that's not freaky at all. When her little finger twitches, I just about shit my pants.
"Darcy?" Shaking her shoulder makes her blink again, so I do it harder. She comes alive with a gasp.
"Oh! Wow." She sits upright in one smooth move, colour me impressed.
"Dar, are you ok? What the hell happened?" I ask her as she pushes to stand. As she does, her toga gets caught under her foot. As she straightens, it falls away, landing at her feet in a heap.
Her whole back is covered in slash marks. Old and new scars crisscross her pink skin in raised, angry-looking red marks. Some look very fresh.
"Who did this to you, Darcy?" I stand too and run my fingers across one of the largest ones. Brown light flows from the tip of my finger, soaking into her skin, drawing a shudder from her. Before my eyes, the scar I just touched, fades away. It leaves behind a strip of perfect skin.
"What was that, my Queen?" Darcy asks while trying to look over her shoulder to see what I'm doing. She sounds out of breath slightly.
"Give me your wrist," I demand in a voice I hardly recognize as my own. Inside me, a burning instinct to give her my mark makes itself known. She turns, completely bare to me, and lifts her wrist while sliding to one knee. I take her hand and bring the soft skin of her inner wrist to my lips and kiss it. When I pull away, I recognise the mark I leave behind. The exact one I gave William. Soft pink, earth brown, bright blue and silver all intertwined into each other, the outline is a black circle with a graceful trident in the middle. It's my mark.
"Oh, my Queen! Everly..." Darcy fumbles for words as she looks down at her arm. Her fingers caress the colourful mark. "Thank you, my Queen. I am not worthy."
"Darcy, this," I pull her up and point to her arm. "It means you are worthy. What happened? What's with the freaky second set of eyelids?" I ask her as I stride into the bathroom, the pull of the ocean below the tub calls to me. If I could just be near it, maybe I might be able to concentrate better, figure out a way to escape.
Darcy follows, when I look up, I realise the tone of her skin has darkened a touch, she has put her toga back on, but curiosity gets the better of me.
"Turn around, love, show me your back," I ask her, she doesn't hesitate. She spins, pulls her hair to one side, revealing a mark-free back. "Wow. They've gone. That's fantastic." Her arm reaches over her shoulder to feel her back, she gasps in surprise when her hand meets smooth skin.
"Oh, gods. It's a miracle. You healed me, my Queen..."
"No! Ever. It's Ever. Remember?" She ducks her head and her cheeks redden. "Listen, I'm so glad your scars are gone but tell me, who did this to you?" Tears slowly run down her hollow cheeks and her eyes flick down to the floor.
I bend and twist the knob of the tap; water pours from it and begins to fill the tub. Steam rises as I strip off the awful dress Darcy brought on day one and slip into the tub. As soon as my skin touches the water I moan. Darcy takes off her toga and helps me sink into the water. When I lay back against the side, she joins me. We lay there in silence. Letting the hot water relax our bodies. Darcy doesn't have to tell me who hurt her, I already know. Add it to the list of reasons Poseidon will die by my hand. That mother fucker is seriously gunna regret every single thing he has ever done.
The water cools, but I don't get out. Instead, Darcy wordlessly empties some of the cold and fills it back up with hot. I turn to face the wall of the tub and watch small fish swim past me.
"Darcy, I feel this strong connection with the sea. I have an overwhelming desire to dive right in." I tell her while I fight against the desire to dunk my head under the water.
"Well, you're in the royal suite. You can." She replies as she dries herself, I spin to throw her a confused look. "Oh," she blushes, steps out of the tub and wraps her toga around her body, "I keep forgetting you didn't grow up here." She turns to the wall behind her and presses her hand against a seemingly normal section. The walls of the bathroom turn completely clear, giving me a view of being under the ocean.
"Wow. This is incredible." I utter as I stare out into the depths that call to my soul. I look up into the face of a stingray. Its mouth curls up at the corners, like it's smiling at me. The longing inside me to be within the ocean screams at me. "What happened to you, Dar?" I ask without turning to look at her.
"I was scared. I thought I was going to die. I didn't want that to happen. When we die, we are reborn. Our souls are... kind of recycled, if you will. I would be reborn in a new body. I'm sorry that happened." She answers quietly. "I let you down when you needed me."
"No, you didn't let me down at all! It was a shit plan, anyway. Have you been reborn before, Darcy?" I turn to her when l
ong minutes pass without an answer.
"Yes, just recently, actually. Everly, my name is not Darcy, it's Amphitrite." Her admission shocks me so much, I slip under the water, drawing in a lungful. As I flail around, my arms pinwheeling, my mind is in turmoil. Darcy is my mother? Reincarnation is real? What. The. Fuck. I seem to sink forever in the murky water. My lungs burn for air, the pounding in my head intensifies and then the world around me goes black.
Chapter Ten
LEYLAND
Day 36
Thirty-six days. That's how long Everly has been missing. Or taken. More likely Poseidon has her miles beneath the ocean, doing gods know what to her. I'm barely holding on to my mind. I can't sleep or eat. I can't focus on anything other than finding a way to get to Ever. I sit on the bench outside yet another witch's house and pull the small photo from the pocket on my shirt. I keep it with me, above my heart, always. Looking down at the black and white scan of our baby, tears spring to my eyes, as they always do when I look at it.
No longer are they happy tears, or those of joy. But sad tears, angry tears. The two people I love most in this world have been taken from me. Taken to a place I cannot get to. Fire burns in my veins as I clutch the only thing I have left of them. Hearing a door opening, I swipe at my face and return the photo to my pocket.
"Bro, the witch tells us she knows a way. Come, brother, let's hear what she has to say, together." Garrot holds his hand out for me to take. They all know a way; they all claim to have been to Atlantis. But none of the fourteen witches we have spoken with over the last month has actually given us the information we need in order to get Everly back. We've travelled the world, stayed in some beautiful places, but all of it has been lost on me.
"I'll be right in, Gar. Just, erm, give me a sec." I stand and turn from him, ignoring his offered hand. While I need his comfort, I can't bring myself to allow it. It's my fault Everly and my child were taken by that monster. If I was a better boyfriend, a better consort, she would be here with me. Safe. His soft sigh reaches my ears as he turns and walks back into the wooden shack in the middle of a forest. Paris is the city of romance, or so they say. Without Everly here, it feels like the gates of hell.
I stride forward, needing to put distance between me and my ever-hopeful brothers. For the last month, they constantly tell me there’s a way. We’ll find it. We’ll bring her home, safe and alive. As the days have gone on, I have lost hope. I let my wings spring free from my back, I bend my knees and spring into the air, feeling more alone than I ever have in the last one hundred years.
The wind blasts through my feathers as I fly away from the witch's cabin. My heart booms in my chest and I can hardly breathe. My wings falter, and I plummet to the earth.
Gordon
She would sacrifice herself for a stranger. That much I know. But I don't understand it. I can't even pretend to. Feelings. She asked me how it feels to be feared. To have the people of Atlantis tremble instead of rejoicing at the sight of me. I'm not sure how it feels, but I know I'm beginning to hate it.
Karl
Day 36
The witch in front of me has pointed ears and purple hair. When she cracked the door open to see who was knocking, I warned Leyland to wait outside. The woman is clearly dark Fae if her pink skin and purple hair are anything to go by. It's commonly thought that dark Fae are... dark. But the facts are very different. Colourful and eccentric, the dark Fae are witches. They draw their power from broken souls, from the darkness, hence the name.
Leyland is from the light. We learned from the last witch the dark Fae seek a light prince. Their kind is dying. The darkness seeping into their souls with each use of their magic. It eventually destroys them, rotting their minds and bodies. The dark Fae, Selina, hoped Leyland would not only give her an heir but become her king and rule the darkness with her. That's why she kidnapped him. Why she tortured him the way she did, went to the grave with her. Luckily, we found him in time. But apparently, a lot of dark Fae are not happy about the death of their princess. Some, however, are delighted and see Everly as their saviour. Who the fuck knew?
"Do you have a way in, or not, Fae? Time is of the essence here." Victor growls at the woman, who shrinks back from the power in his voice. Leyland is not the only one suffering from lack of control since Everly jumped off the cliff. Victor has bouts of rage. He loses control of his Kraken form at the drop of a hat. Causing his wounds to reopen over and over. The more time that passes, all of us feel the effects of her not being with us.
"Calm down, mighty warrior. I can only move so fast, being I’m disabled." The pink Fae murmurs. Both of her legs are missing. Punishment for leaving the darkness without permission, apparently.
"Katja, please. Our Queen has been gone for over a month, we need her back. She’s pregnant." Garrot implores the witch. Great move, Garrot. He must have noticed the single photo of an infant Fae half-hidden under a pile of papers on the woman's desk, too. She visibly softens at his words. The photo is clearly old, it's black and white, the edges creased.
"Ok, mind mover, I will help you. But first, I want something from you." She turns and sets her sunset orange eyes on me. Her smile reveals black teeth. Clearly, she didn't escape the darkness fast enough.
"What, exactly, can I do for you, Katja?" I ask, weary. Every witch who we have asked to help us has wanted something in return. But never from me.
"My garden will not grow, the plants wilt within days of sprouting. The earth rejects them. Grow them, and I shall show you the way to that which your heart desires." Her smile grows wider. I nod and she turns on her wheels and rolls herself out of the door, onto the blackened earth beyond it.
Chapter Eleven
GARROT
Day 36
When the witch rolls from the house, my chest tightens to the point of barely being able to breathe. I rub the palm of my hand against it, hoping to release the pressure. I follow Karl, and a barely holding on Victor out into the day. The sun hides behind big grey clouds as Karl pulls a knife from his waist and presses it to his wrist.
I snap my arm out and grab hold of his hand.
"What the fuck are you doing, Karl?" I growl. Confusion rolls through me as he wrenches his arm from my grasp and proceeds to drag the blade across the skin on his inner wrist.
"Doing what the witch wants, Gar." Blood flows from the wound and drips to the ground. "We need Everly back, Leyland needs her," he flicks his hand out, spraying his blood across the black dirt. "Victor needs her," he jerks his chin towards the beast as he catches his blood in a cupped hand and throws it in front of him. As he wobbles on his feet, at my side, Victor's whole-body shakes. His fists clench and unclench at his sides as he battles the change. Fuck. We are literally falling apart without Everly. The ground rumbles under our feet as the earth spews forth plants, grasses, herbs and small trees from the fallow soil of Katja's garden. I turn to watch the dark Fae cackle to the heavens as the earth is forced to provide her with the means to cast her spells.
I reach out to catch Karl just as he stumbles and slides to the ground. I lace my hands under his arms and gently lower him down.
"What have you done to him, foul creature? I will rip the head from your body, and feast on your innards!" Victor yells, his face turning a dark shade of green. Fuck. He's losing it. Karl slumps to the side, landing in the grass with a soft thud. Victor roars his anger and charges the dark Fae. Oh, we are so fucked right now.
Leyland
Day 36
The ground rushes up to meet my face. In all honesty, I can't seem to care. The air batters my face. Tears leak from my eyes. They quickly dry as they are whipped from my skin. From the corner of my eye, I see a flash of black, then another. Spinning my body, I land feet first on the ground, my wings outstretched from my body. When I look to my left, I realise my wings are completely black.
Victor
Day 36
I struggle to rein in my Kraken form as my feet speed me towards her. At the last second, I manage to g
et control of him and dodge to the left, narrowly missing her. She doesn't even blink or react as I stand behind her, shaking.
"Where the fuck is Leyland?" Garrot spins in circles, looking for his lover. Our brother.
"He was just here, Vic, did you see where he went?" Karl turns to look at me, as he pushes from the ground, his brown eyes filled with worry.
"No. But," I rub my hand across the scar on my eyebrow, "I have a bad feeling in my stomach. Like... like something is wrong." My stomach rolls, like waves on the ocean during a storm. Something doesn't feel right. But I don't know what.
"I can do a locator spell," the witch announces. We all turn to look at her, not one of us trust this tiny woman.
"Shit! He's not answering, Karl. Just like last time. What if the Dark Fae have him again?" Panic laces Garrot's voice as he pulls the phone away from his ear. The same emotion rolls through me right now. Last time Leyland was taken, he was tortured, assaulted and almost forced to marry the Princess of Dark Fae. Some of their kind want him as their King. His power of being able to leach the love from a person's soul is highly sought-after. As are the fruit of his lions.
"Okay, just take a breath, Gar." Karl rubs a hand down Garrot's back. "We’ll find him." Karl pulls his phone out of his back pocket as Garrot bends over, his hands on his knees, panting.
"Yes?" Leyland answers after the sixth ring.
"Leyland!" Karl yells and Garrot's head snaps up, "Where are you? We were worried. The witch is ready."
"Le, you dick. Get back here now!" Garrot shouts angrily towards the device, his cheeks wet with tears. Karl switches to loudspeaker.
"And why, pray tell, would I come back?" Leyland asks, sounding bored.
"What do you mean? Have you found another way to get to Atlantis?" Garrot asks hopefully.
"Nope. Listen, I don't want to burst your bubble, lads, but I'm not going to Atlantis." Leyland announces. We look at each other in complete confusion, the line echoes and we all turn as one. "Now if you don't mind, I'd like to get home." Leyland stands behind us. His wings and eyes are completely black.
The Everly Davis chronicles Page 44